diff --git a/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangutils.cpp b/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangutils.cpp
index a99dea83db7..c250c9b4603 100644
--- a/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangutils.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangutils.cpp
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ static QJsonObject createFileObject(const FilePath &buildDir,
                 args.append("/TP");
         } else {
             QStringList langOption
-                    = createLanguageOptionGcc(kind,
+                    = createLanguageOptionGcc(projectPart.language, kind,
                                               projectPart.languageExtensions
                                               & LanguageExtension::ObjectiveC);
             for (const QString &langOptionPart : langOption)
diff --git a/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.cpp b/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.cpp
index def318acb4e..2b40528dd39 100644
--- a/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.cpp
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ void CompilerOptionsBuilder::addSyntaxOnly()
     isClStyle() ? add("/Zs") : add("-fsyntax-only");
 }
 
-QStringList createLanguageOptionGcc(ProjectFile::Kind fileKind, bool objcExt)
+QStringList createLanguageOptionGcc(Language language, ProjectFile::Kind fileKind, bool objcExt)
 {
     QStringList options;
 
@@ -176,23 +176,22 @@ QStringList createLanguageOptionGcc(ProjectFile::Kind fileKind, bool objcExt)
     case ProjectFile::Unsupported:
         break;
     case ProjectFile::CHeader:
-        if (objcExt)
-            options += "objective-c-header";
-        else
-            options += "c-header";
+    case ProjectFile::AmbiguousHeader:
+        if (language == Language::C)
+            options += QLatin1String(objcExt ? "objective-c-header" : "c-header");
+        else if (language == Language::Cxx)
+            options += QLatin1String(objcExt ? "objective-c++-header" : "c++-header");
         break;
     case ProjectFile::CXXHeader:
-    default:
-        if (!objcExt) {
-            options += "c++-header";
-            break;
-        }
-        Q_FALLTHROUGH();
+        options += QLatin1String(objcExt ? "objective-c++-header" : "c++-header");
+        break;
     case ProjectFile::ObjCHeader:
+        options += QLatin1String(language == Language::C ? "objective-c-header"
+                                                         : "objective-c++-header");
+        break;
     case ProjectFile::ObjCXXHeader:
         options += "objective-c++-header";
         break;
-
     case ProjectFile::CSource:
         if (!objcExt) {
             options += "c";
@@ -447,7 +446,7 @@ void CompilerOptionsBuilder::updateFileLanguage(ProjectFile::Kind fileKind)
     }
 
     const bool objcExt = m_projectPart.languageExtensions & LanguageExtension::ObjectiveC;
-    const QStringList options = createLanguageOptionGcc(fileKind, objcExt);
+    const QStringList options = createLanguageOptionGcc(m_projectPart.language, fileKind, objcExt);
     if (options.isEmpty())
         return;
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.h b/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.h
index 86842fa687a..1d6e384b9bd 100644
--- a/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.h
+++ b/src/plugins/cppeditor/compileroptionsbuilder.h
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ enum class UseBuildSystemWarnings : char { Yes, No };
 
 CPPEDITOR_EXPORT QStringList XclangArgs(const QStringList &args);
 CPPEDITOR_EXPORT QStringList clangArgsForCl(const QStringList &args);
-CPPEDITOR_EXPORT QStringList createLanguageOptionGcc(ProjectFile::Kind fileKind, bool objcExt);
+CPPEDITOR_EXPORT QStringList createLanguageOptionGcc(Utils::Language language, ProjectFile::Kind fileKind, bool objcExt);
 
 class CPPEDITOR_EXPORT CompilerOptionsBuilder
 {